In many applications where articles are treated within a vacuum chamber it is desirable to control the temperature of the article. One such application is ion implantation of semiconductor wafers wherein a high energy ion beam is directed onto a semiconductor wafer which also results in heating of the wafer. Heating of the wafer in any ion implant process has a number of undesirable effects including damage to the photoresist layer which can out gas and shrink thereby destroying the desired precise pattern intended on the wafer by use of the photoresist. Early implantation systems relied upon heat removal from the silicon wafer by radiation effect only. Absence of gas molecules in the vacuum system such as typically 7.times.10.sup.-7 Torr virtually eliminates conductive paths for heat flow. As beam powers in ion implantation systems have increased radiation cooling alone was no longer sufficient, and there have been attempts to make intimate contact with the silicon wafer for increased conduction. One method that has been attempted is the use of a thermally conductive conformat (soft pliable material) pressed mechanically to the back of the silicon slice hopefully to establish as many point contacts between the wafer and conformat for conduction to a support member. Although significant temperature depression has been realized with the use of a conformat, problems of repeatability, thermal non-uniformity and expensive maintenance have been experienced.